I got my tooth filled at a dental clinic at Yishun, it kinda cheaper than other dental clinics so we went all the way to Yishun. My dad wanted to make a new denture so I just conveniently followed them. Haha! So in total, I got 2 teeth filled, one from Sec school and one now. The one I filled in Sec school is at the side, so it didnt bother me much but the recent one is at the lower jaw and inner tooth, the filling feels like there's food stucking in my teeth. LOL!

And I got my wish granted. Wish of going to Haw Par Villa. I met up with Lois and Sirong after my dental trip. They werent keen of going but they went, anyway. Good friends they are!

The garden is in a run-down state, like what wikipedia has said. Totally unlike the past.. For those who does not know its history, I going to talk a little about it.

This Villa is founded by Aw Brothers, the developer of Tiger Balm, a chinese medical ointment in 1937. It is called 'Tiger Balm Gardens' originally but then, renamed 'Haw Par Villa' after it was sold to Singapore Tourism Board. (Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par) . It's a garden full of statues, rainging from animals, ghosts, human and deities, illustrating chinese legends and teachings.

Can you imagine how wealthy the Aw Brothers became from selling those small bottles of medical ointments to even bulid a park out of it? With 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas, fully and colourfully painted and all looked distinct from one another must have cost a bomb and to consider that in the olden days, money isnt that easy to earn. Just like Michael Jackson, uh? A theme park of his own for his case. But Tiger Balm Gardens was opened for the viewing of public so that's different.

But of course, it's all in the past. Now, Haw Par Villa isnt as splendorous as before. As time goes by, everyone prefers to catch a movie if they have the time. Who would want to walking under the heat of sun looking at statues? Haw Par Villa has been poorly maintained due to the lack of popularity. Only a small part of the park remained for the viewing for public and the rest was give up to build modern industrial buildings which are definitely much more commercial than the park.

The lively ponds that guards the deities now grew still and overgrown with algae. But that the 'liveliest' thing you can find the reduced-size park, why? Because they're the source of reproducing mosquitoes. The park is densely infected with mozzies and definitely further discourages people to visit.

The clay statues get paler and dustier as time goes by. It seems like they do age as living things do. I dont think the management can afford or bother to repaint those statues, considering how much paint is needed and how many statues are there. And the rate of visitors doesnt worth the while repainting the statues.

The most famous area of Haw Par Villa, The 10 Courts of Hell has not lose its charm of giving creeps to people who went in after all these years. But it is now the only thing that worth seeing in the park and requires an admission fee of $1. It illustrates the punishments you will receive in hell for the crimes you did in your lifetime. The crimes range from murder, corruption to even cheating during exams. And for the tormenting punishments, they involve burning on a iron rod, beheading, having intestines or tongue pulled out and etc. The human statues in their agonies can really freak you out.



Tiger statue near the entrance. It was well-made and well-painted to look exactly like real tiger.


The entrance of Haw Par Villa.


The vehicle with a Tiger head. The Aw Brothers has used this vehicle to promote Tiger Balm Ointment by driving around the town. The innovative idea of promoting products this way was new and fresh at that time. It results to the success of Tiger Balm.


Koi fish surprisingly survive in unclean and greasy water of the Wishing Well.


Sirong aimming to toss her coin to the pot at the middle of the Wishing Well.


Before the entrance of 10 Courts of Hell. It said, 'ku hai wu ya, hui tou shi an' and roughly translated to be 'Tough sea has no border, turn back there is shore.'. Meaning 'Turn into a new leaf before it's too late.'


The Gate of Hell. The Entrance to the 10 Courts of Hell.

There is no other visitor except us so we are afraid to enter. It was damn creepy as it was very dark.


1st Court: Good and bad spirits are separated to walk two bridges.

Gold and Silver Bridges.

Suppose to illustrate a mirror to see whether you are good or bad. It was unlit before we stepped closer to it. When we stepped closer, it lighted up and a old man appeared, we almost dashed off in fright. We werent dare to step closer to the one that is showing us a 'bad spirit reflection'. LOL!

Then as we busily taking photos and looking closely at the 'courts', a group of people came in and we were glad. BUT THEN, they just not bother to stop and look closely at each individual 'courts', by a minute, they gone passed us and left. LOL!


2nd Court:
Inflicting physical injury, Conmen, Robbers will be thrown into volcanic pit.
Corruption, Stealing and Gambling will be frozen into block of ice.
Prostitutes will be thrown into a pool of blood and drowned.

Volcanic pit.
LOL! Inflicting physical injury? What if you do not do it on purpose? Haha! Lois still asked me 'I thought these people already dead, will they still experience pain?' LOL!

Pool of blood.
You can see that the dioramas are very dusty... It really looked very scary when you see the statues covered in red.


3rd Court:
Ungratefulness, Disrepect to elders and Escape from prison will get their heart cut out.
Drug addicts & traffickers, Tomb robbers (I think it means tomb raiders) and Urging people into crime and social unrest will be tied to red hot copper pillar and grilled.

Red hot copper pillar.
Causing social unrest? What if the society was unfair to begin with, do we have to sit down and do nothing?


4th Court:
Tax Dodger, Refusal to pay rent and Business fraud is pounded by stone mallet.
Disobedience to one's siblings and Lack of filial piety will be grounded by a large stone.

Pounded by stone mallet.

Grounded by a large stone.
These two punshments seem alike by their descriptions.


5th Court:
Plotted another's death for his property or money and Money lenders with exorbitant interest rates will be thrown onto a hill of knives.



6th Court:
Cheating, Cursing and Abducting others will be thrown onto a tree of knives.
Miuse of books, Possession of pornographic material, Breaking written rules and regulations and Wasting food will have body sawn into two.

Tree of Knives.
The tree of knives is similar to the 5th Court's hill of knives. Which one is less pain?

Sawn body into two.
Don't you think it abit too harsh for breaking rules? I think all guys will get saw into two since most of them watch porn at least once.


7th Court:
Rumour-monger and Sowing discord among family members will have tongue pulled out.
Rapists and Driving someone to their death will be thrown into wok of boiling oil.

Tongue pulled out.

Wok of boiling oil.

Actually, the oil wok is beneath a bridge which we need to walk across. So when we stood on the bridge and looked down, it's the oil wok. As you know, the railing of bridge usually will have a knob at each end. It is shaped as a severed head. I remember that when I went there when I were young, my sis has tricked me on putting my hand on the head then I was shocked when I realised that was a head! I still remember the joke so I wanted to prank Sirong to put her hand on it but she saw the head! LOL!


8th Court: (I forgot to took photos of its description.)
The crimes might be Cheating during exams(?)
The punishments are intestines pulled out and body sawn into half vertically.

Intestines pulled out

Body saw into half vertically.


9th Court: (I only took photo of the chinese description and half of its English description. XD )
Kill when robbing (杀人抢劫) and Plotted another's death for his property or money (图财害命, I just realised it repeated from 5th court.) will have head and arms (it's meaning limbs) chopped off.
Disrespectful to the old and like the youngs (不知敬老爱幼) will be crushed under boulders.

Head and limbs chopped off.

Crushed under boulders.
Abit similar to 5th Court. Maybe they have run out of idea.

10th Court: Wheel of Reincarnation and 'Men-Po' Pavilion

I dunno why they are carrying goats or some animals on their backs.

'Men-Po' Pavilion (Pavilion of Forgetfulness)
Men-Po hands them a cup of magic tea that will make the spirits forget their past lives.

A badly taken photo of 'Wheel of Reincarnation'.
Whether a spirit will reborn as a human or an animal depending on the spirit's past life.



I took 2 days to finish to this post, I was doing other things. I will post Haw Par Villa Part 2 soon. Hope you guys will be interested. LOL!

Labels: Haw Par Villa